02 Dec Bejeweled with the Haas Brothers and Jessica McCormack
Jewelry designer Jessica McCormack and Los Angeles-based artists the Haas Brothers add an irreverent edge to fine jewelry with their new collection of bejeweled sculptures. The witty, biomorphic forms synonymous with the work of the Haas Brothers are here interpreted in three Fairy Berry sculptures – set with diamonds, they cut other-worldly silhouettes. ‘We wanted the Fairy Berries to look strange and from another planet, but at the same time special and precious,’ says McCormack. ‘Creating the Fairy Berries definitely provided the perfect opportunity to just have fun. There’s a playfulness that’s at the heart of our jewelry collections, especially with this collaboration – and the sculptures really feel like an extension of that.’
For the Haas Brothers, working with jewelry was an exciting new challenge. ‘Jewelry is a completely different mindset,’ they say. ‘We labor on these huge things that are fun to look at, but to touch such a meaningful practice as jewelry making is wild. Having the opportunity to create something that could potentially live on someone’s body for the rest of their lives, or the opportunity to create a physical version of love, or intimacy and commitment – that’s awesome.’ They jumped at the chance to work with Jessica McCormack: ‘Jessica’s jewelry is beautifully chic and smart, but still effortless. And our world is kind of psychedelic; it’s cartoonish and strange. The collaboration feels like the perfect coming together of all those elements.’
McCormack agrees: ‘Collaborating with artists was a first for me, but it has all felt very natural. I think we have very similar, creative brains that work in the same way. We floated around ideas and bounced a lot of sketches between us until jewelry turned into art. I’m so happy that I have had the opportunity to do this with them.’ The Fairy Berries sit alongside snake-like rings, earrings, necklaces and a statement cuff. Their twisting silhouettes, succinctly blending art and jewelry design, reference the brothers’ Bathy Bates piece of work – a bath taking the form of a droplet, frozen mid-splash.
